Demon Copperhead | REVIEW
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- Опубликовано: 15 окт 2024
- A belated review of DEMON COPPERHEAD by Barbara Kingsolver (featuring some months-old fall foliage from a reading vlog that never was!)
Spoiler note: This review touches on some of the broad strokes of the plot of the novel, and the last two minutes touch vaguely on where Demon, the character, ends up. It's based on a Dickens novel, so I don't think this book can really be spoiled, but proceed accordingly!
my queen performing her ted talk review, we love!!!!!!!!
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Thanks for a wonderful review. Claire I watch a lot of Booktube and I can say that you are the cream of the crop. Love seeing your videos. Maybe because they are infrequent they are special. I loved Demon and went back and read David Copperfield soon after just to better see Kingsolver's give and take. I've read most of Kingsolver's books and always felt The Lacuna is her best but with that I have read the Poisonwood Bible several times and never grow tired of its African atmosphere. I almost felt Demon was too hard hitting at times, like a bleak winter with little sunshine and did not leave me feeling hopeful for the place or the character. While I've felt that Kingsolver is often on the soap box a little too often for my taste of literature but I agree with you that this woman really can write.
Thank you, Kerry! I’ve also read Animal Dreams and Prodigal Summer, and perhaps now I will pick up The Lacuna sometime soon. Because I first read Kingsolver in 7th grade (!) I have fond feelings for her - it felt like one of the first times I encountered a real, grown-up book. And I love the way she writes about the land…it taps into something very deep in my bones!
Wow! What an evocative and thoughtful review! Great job!
Excellent review Claire. Your podcasts are second to none.
A powerful book. I bought a second copy just so I can read it again and annotate it differently.
Fantastic Review. The Mariah part sounded like Eugenides 'the virgin suicide' mixed with Austens Mary Bennet. A perfect sentence summing up the feeling of a life and the way of a woman not abiding by beauty or female pleasures. Your review was so good I will always think of it, walking by that book from now on. Thanks.
Always nice to hear from you
Claire, i always drop everything to watch your videos as soon as i see it on my feed. And they never fail to please, provoke, pique! You had me double take at the neapolitan novels comparison. Must read this summer!!!
🥹🥹❤❤ I might be…considering a Neapolitan reread this summer!!
@@ClaireReadsBooksi sincerely hope for a vlog of that tumultuous experience 💔
Great review.
Kingsolver is very beloved here in WV a la the Appalachian branding she has as an author, she actually visited a tiny local bookstore in my hometown that won a contest where Kingsolver gets to visit to talk about the book! I wonder if her mention of the not so subtle talking-to-the-reader bits you mention is her awareness of her “brand” as an author, I know people here in WV eat it up, and for good reason!
This book was gifted to me for Christmas but I had no room in my luggage to bring back with me to DC, but I’m coincidentally visiting home again now and plan to read it within the next week! I’ll take this as a sign, glad you speak so highly of it! Great review as always 💫
Oh I love that! I’m sure that’s part of it (and the direct to reader moments are also very suited to book club discussion). Have you listened to her interview with Ezra Klein about the book? She talks a lot about moving back to Appalachia and rural life, and although she’s also on her soap box in that interview, I appreciated what she highlighted (particularly connection to the land and community/kinship networks), especially being from a rural town myself. I wonder if some of her adamancy is at all related to complicated feelings she might have about having been away for so many decades (but that’s probably just me projecting 😅). I had a whole separate thread about how perceptively she writes about the country and kinship, but it didn’t really fit into the review - but anyway, would love to hear your thoughts once you’ve finished reading!!
@@ClaireReadsBooks Yes! The Ezra Klein interview didn’t exactly change my perspective on the book, but it really did make me appreciate her as a person and what the book must have meant to her (which I think also comes across as complicated in the interview)
@@mikegseclecticreads Yes, that interview is such a rich text, I have revisited it more than once 😅
The kind of review BookTube needs more of - thank you for what must have been a ton of work. With that said, I’m not inclined to move forward with the book at this time as the plot, themes, and characters sound overly familiar. I do however appreciate your talent and will be following for more! 🥸
Thank you!
I loved Demon Copperhead. It was my first Kingsolver, but since have read The Bean Trees and have The Poisonwood Bible waiting to be read. I normally don’t like to read books where I feel like I’m being hit over the head with a “message” and I understand from other reviews I’ve seen of Kingsolver books that she tends to be heavy handed with whatever message she is trying to get across. That being said, I appreciate her storytelling, the writing, the turns of phrase, and, especially, the sarcastic sense of humor she allows her characters to have. There are some laugh out loud moments in both books I’ve read. She can write some truly unforgettable characters. Because of the wonderful reading experience I had with Demon Copperhead, I will forgive her the head bashing. I may not be as forgiving with other authors.
It’s always nice to see you and hear your thoughtful book reviews. 😊
I agree, she gets away with it because the writing is otherwise just so good! I read Animal Dreams in college and have really fond memories of that book, if you’re looking to add any more of her books to your TBR. A friend of mind adores the Bean Trees, so that might be the one I try next :)
@@ClaireReadsBooks I’ll keep Animal Dreams in mind when I’m looking for another book of hers to read.
Claire so good to see you and hear your wondrous review. We missed you. Hope to see more of your channel
Demon became a real person to me. I so badly wanted to put my arm around him & tell him you’re going to fine some day. I love a book that can bring characters to life & make me cry!
@@susanstefanovich6804 agreed!
Great review. You said everything I thought about it, and way better than I could.
Also, nice term "book hangover"
One of the BEST books I’ve ever read /experienced….
Wonderful review, as always!
Why do ppl seem not to like this one? It's very polarizing. I absolutely adored The Poisonwood Bible but DC hasn't called out to me yet. You've nearly convinced me, Claire.
Great discussion! I also enjoyed this novel because Demon just has such a strong voice. Maybe sometimes he was even a little TOO endearing to me; it wasn't even hard for me to remain 100% on his side all the way through. (That could very well be true of David Copperfield too though, which I sadly still haven't read yet.)
I did find Demon's development of sociopolitical awareness to be pretty "half-baked" as I think you put it, and this clunkiness left me by the end feeling a bit less favorable than you (it wasn't necessarily one of my favorite reads last year although it was very memorable in other ways). It felt at times like I was being thrown a bit of a softball with regards to this broader societal context, which feels really weird to say of this novel since many of the actual personal experiences Demon goes through are anything but soft. But, I still enjoyed Demon's personal story enormously.
Thanks, Mike! I totally get that - and I did have the thought that Demon was too likable / a bit of a Mary Sue in some instances if I may invoke that term 😅 I was planning to read David Copperfield right afterward but then felt like I maybe needed to wait a bit before reading something so similar…so I am curious to see how it reads compared to Demon, especially in terms of character development and the social commentary of it all.
@@ClaireReadsBooks Same, I started reading David Copperfield afterwards and then got sidetracked, but I was enjoying it and I'd still like to come back to it. I think it requires a lot of focus because of Dickens' long and complex sentences ... not something to read right before bed when I'm getting tired :)
Glad you are back with a video. Great review. But what is the purpose of the stop and restart of the video after every sentence? It was distracting to what you were saying.
I script my reviews and was tired while filming, so sometimes that’s just what you get 🤷🏻♀️
@@ClaireReadsBooks I was just curious. Also, love your hair!
@@TCS088 Thank you! And all good, I would prefer to have fewer cuts in the video, too, but sometimes shoddy filming is better than not filming at all (and maybe if I posted more often I wouldn’t feel so rusty every time I sat down to do it 😅)
@@ClaireReadsBooks No problem, I still loved your review. I see a lot of YT videos with lots of cuts and I thought perhaps it was done for aesthetic purposes.
Unrelated - How's War and Peace going?
I’m so excited for her review also!
@@andreluissoriano me too!! Glad I'm not the only one 😃
I am currently at the opera 🥲🥲 No spoilers please!! But I am loving it and am doing a year-long vlog with quarterly check-ins (although maybe I’ll have some more updates here in the meantime). Almost halfway and it’s simply sublime!
@@ClaireReadsBooks🎉🎉Yay!! I can't wait for the new War and Peace updates and vlogs although pls don't feel like you have to update us more often than you intended to❤ We can wait! I'm so happy you're enjoying it 😀 You have a lot of epicness ahead of you ❤😅
The hype was SO big on this one that I've been waiting for it to die down. That, and I didn't really like The Poisonwood Bible (can't remember why, read it a million years ago). This sort-of-mixed review could convince me, though. A booktube masterclass, as usual!
Thank you, Laura! I think it's fairly different from The Poisonwood Bible, especially because of the voice - so perhaps worth trying!
I'm glad the pro-DC evangelism continues. Wonderful review for a wonderful book!
Excellent review. I loved the book despite its flaws.
This made me even more excited to read this!
The more Kingsolver irritates respected critics, the better 👍😁😸
At least she finally has her Pulitzer flowers now!
Thers a book by Nick Cave 'The Death of Bunny Munroe' I couldn't get past the first page ...
Wow! new review!!!!!!!
Good job.
מתורגם?
lose my faith in Learning EG when reading this book，the book realy one slang Bible
Fuck, I wish you could review my book
Why do ppl seem not to like this one? It's very polarizing. I absolutely adored The Poisonwood Bible but DC hasn't called out to me yet. You've nearly convinced me, Claire.
Oh do they not? I’ve seen lots of praise for it but maybe I’m missing the bad reviews. I think if you liked PB you’d enjoy this one!